The Comedy About Family Vacations

Meet the Authors

Tim & Spike at the Purple Rose Theatre Premiere

TIM CLUE

My first writing gig was stand-up comedy. However, in 1991, I established Short Story Theater, a multimedia theatrical company that combined short fiction adaptations with documentary footage. “Greek Streets” was our inaugural work, using short stories by Harry Mark Petrakis. “Other Definitions of Confinement” premiered at the National Jewish Theater in 1993, introducing the life and writings of Russian political prisoner Dmitry Stonov. And in 1997, “Coloring Potential” debuted, which focused on the stories of Chicago’s inner-city youth. In 1999, Spike Manton and I wrote and directed a Chicago-based television sitcom pilot called “Tiny Pig” that made into the proverbial “can,” but not onto TV. Like all failed projects, it is now being adapted into a comedy musical. “Leaving Iowa” is also being adapted into a screenplay. I grew up in Rochelle, Illinois, and am currently residing in Chicago with my wife, Kathryn, and our daughter, Bailey.

SPIKE MANTON

I was born on a farm in far upstate New York, but my parents soon moved us to a bustling metropolis of almost two thousand people, where I grew up in your standard 1960’s family unit of four kids, two parents and one station wagon. As child number three, I am very familiar with the seating location known as “the way back.” After graduating Bradley University, I moved to Chicago, quit my Procter & Gamble sales job, and began a career in standup comedy. Standup lead to some cable TV shows, like Evening at the Improv, MTV and Comedy Central and, eventually, a career in Chicago radio, where I spent 10 years hosting FM talk shows and sports talk on ESPN Radio. Along the way, I have been trying to create, write and produce original work with my writing partner, Tim Clue. Although we have many projects at various stages of production, “Leaving Iowa” is our best example of executing that plan to date. I live in the Chicago suburbs with my wife, Tami, and my two children, Mickey and Samantha.